Yandex is forming a single cross-functional structure around the "Alisa AI" assistant, TASS was informed by the company's press service. Previously, product development was carried out by several independent teams, although Yandex considers the assistant a central vector for business development.
The new structure will be headed by Dmitry Timko, who has been with the company since 2011. Under his leadership, "Yandex Search" underwent a transformation, "Yandex Browser" became an AI browser, and the "Shedevrum" service was launched.
The task of the unified team is to develop Alisa as a single AI platform for mass services, industry solutions, and B2B products.
In parallel, Yandex is uniting the "Search" teams in Russia and abroad under the leadership of Alexander Popovsky – CEO of Yandex Search International, who launched search in Turkey.
Consolidation around flagship AI products appears to be a response to assistant competition and a bet on accelerated integration of Alisa into all ecosystem services.